12/7/18 Sheldon Richman on Pearl Harbor and Avoiding War with Russia

Sheldon Richman comes back on the show to talk about his recent article on Ukraine, and another recent Libertarian Institute article on Pearl Harbor. He outlines some of the history of FDR’s involvement in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, explaining how much evidence there is for the fact that his administration was looking for a way to get the United States involved in the war, and only chose Japan after failed attempts to provoke an attack by Germany. Many claim that U.S. intervention in World War II was critical in preventing Japan from occupying all of East Asia, and Germany from taking over Europe. Scott and Sheldon consider the counterfactual, wondering whether that wouldn’t actually have been better for the world, given the horrors of Stalin and Mao, who were empowered by the fall of Germany and Japan. They were probably the two worst men to ever hold political power in terms of the number of civilians they murdered. Today America finds itself in a similar situation, as forces in the government lobby for the addition of Ukraine to NATO, a move that Russia has promised would provoke a military response. Richman is very clear that war with Russia means nuclear war, and must be avoided at all costs. He worries that all the talk of President Trump being a puppet of the Russians may simply goad him into greater bellicosity.